Having Oquendo back is news of the day. I don't know enough about Shildt to say yea or nay about him. Would rather them offer the job to Oquendo if MM is gone, or possibly better to bring in someone from outside the organization. Just my 2 cents.

Seeing Oquendo back with the club just made my day. Unless things change, in my opinion, it's a matter of time before MM is relieved of his duties. I'd go nuts if Oquendo were to be given the job if that happened. Then again, him being back may make enough of a difference that it could save MM.

Well, maybe that last part's a stretch. That said, there's no denying Oquendo's impact on the club in the past.

It sounds like Willie's role is essentially undefined and is there to offer his knowledge to players as they want it. I was really hoping he'd be a regular base running coach, seeing as that's something the team seems to need and maybe he could help guys like Fowler, Wong and Pham improve their base stealing game a little bit.

If Hickey ends up in CHI, is promoting Eversgard a decent backup option? I don't know a lot about him, but he has worked with a majority of the young guys that could be playing a big role next year. He's definitely had some talented arms come through there, but what impact has he had on them?

I'd really rather not promote from within purely because I feel that a steady stream outside voices bringing different ideas are necessary to keep the organization improving.

But Hickey was really a perfect fit for what the Cardinals wanted to do with the role. Lots of experience developing young pitchers into MLB quality arms and his pitching philosophy fits with the skillsets of the Cardinals' pitching prospects. And respected enough to have the clout to tell the manager when he's being a fool with his bullpen.

Perhaps a fallback could be Chris Bosio, who the Cubs let go. I'm just not sure if not Hickey who I want. I'm familiar enough with the Rays and what he's done to know as soon as he became available that he was the guy I wanted to take Lilliquist's place.